


Scratch

by HermitLibrary_Archivist



Series: Scratch [1]
Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Humour, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-26
Updated: 2008-05-26
Packaged: 2018-04-21 09:26:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4823747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HermitLibrary_Archivist/pseuds/HermitLibrary_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>by Susannah Shepherd</p><p>There's something menacing stalking the corridors of the 'Liberator'. The crew aren't quite sure whether they're the hunters or the hunted, and they discover along the way that almost everyone has been keeping secrets...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scratch

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Judith and Aralias, the archivists: This story was originally archived at [Hermit.org Blake's 7 Library](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Hermit_Library), which was closed due to maintenance costs and lack of time. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in August 2015. We posted announcements about the move and emailed authors as we imported, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact us using the e-mail address on [Hermit.org Blake's 7 Library collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hermitlibrary/profile). 
> 
> This work has been backdated to 26th of May 2008, which is the last date the Hermit.org archive was updated, not the date this fic was written. In some cases, fics can be dated more precisely by searching for the zine they were originally published in on [Fanlore](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Main_Page).
> 
> **Original Author's Notes:**
> 
> Previously published in the Freedom City mailing list. Originally also archived at Susannah Shepherd's Fiction Collection (Geocities).
> 
> Prequel to 'Scratch 'N Sniff' by Willa Shakespeare.

Dayna tensed and froze as something unfamiliar teased at the edge of her senses. She stopped, standing on one foot with effortless balance, and concentrated hard. There it was again, a faint but insistent scratching at her cabin door. She relaxed a little, finished pulling on her pyjamas, and stole to the door on silent bare feet.

"Vila, if that's you, I'm going to break both your arms, and then..." She'd spoken loudly enough for her words to carry through the door, but her voice trailed away completely as she opened it and stepped out into the corridor.

There was no-one there. There was no way Vila could have disappeared in time; the corridor was long and straight, and would echo to the sound of fleeing feet. A flash of movement at the corner of her eye had Dayna spinning about, ready to fight, but she had only the sense of something disappearing pale and wraith-like around the distant corner.

Dayna darted back into her room to grab the small gun she always kept handy by her bed, then set off in pursuit of the mysterious creature. She didn't let the little misgivings at the back of her mind grow any bigger, not yet. There shouldn't be _anything_ non-human traipsing the _Liberator_ 's halls, wraith-like or not.

She moved along the corridor with the grace and stealth of a panther, her natural hunter's instincts roused to the chase. As she reached the corner, she readied herself then glided around it in one fluid movement, weapon at the ready. Nothing but empty space.

This time, the noise she heard was a faint shuffling, once again tantalising at the edge of her range of hearing. She shivered involuntarily. Something was out there, moving, and moving stealthily. Almost _slithering_. Dayna swallowed hard and gripped her gun a little more tightly.

This section of passageway was shorter, and ended in a T-junction. Which way to go next... left towards the flight deck or right down to the cargo hold? Flight deck, she decided. At least that way, she might find some support if things got tricky.

She took one deep breath to steady herself, then swung around the corner with weapon braced.

"Aaaahhhh!" A terrified Vila took one look at the brandished weapon and hit the floor, landing with his nose almost up against Dayna's bare toes. "Dayna, you maniac, what are you doing?!"

"Vila, I'm sorry," she said, leaning down and pulling him back to his feet. He did look very pale and shaken, she could feel his arms trembling. But she couldn't help thinking that he'd had a very furtive look on his face, as though she'd caught him up to something rather than simply scared him witless.

"So it _was_ you!" she said, landing only a half-friendly punch on his upper arm.

"Ow!" he complained. "What was me, I haven't been doing anything, honest!" The protest was a routine one, and Dayna didn't set much store by it.

"Trying to break into my cabin, that's what!"

His expression moved from pained outrage to puzzled consideration. "No, Dayna, that wasn't me. Not this time."

Somehow, she believed him. His false denials were usually more elaborate. Dayna suppressed another shiver.

"Then what was scratching at my cabin door?"

"You thought you heard something scratching at your door?" Vila looked a little worried then shook his head. "Nah, take it from an old space-hand like me, it was just the ship creaking or something. You know what these old buckets are like."

"Old bucket? The _Liberator_?" Dayna's tone was cutting. "I _did_ hear it. There was definitely something there, when I went out I saw it."

Vila's eyes widened a little. "What did you see? What did you see!"

"I didn't get a clear look, just a sense of something disappearing. Small, pale..." She thought back. "Fluid movement."

"You're imagining things." He eyed her over and flashed her a leer. "Tell you what, why don't you let me tuck you into bed, then I'll go back and look for the nasty monster."

"No thank you."

"All right then, I'll tuck you up and stay to check you don't have nightmares." The leer turned into an amused smirk, as Vila took a closer look at the baby-pink flannelette pyjamas, complete with floral pattern. "After all, Vila's widdle girl looks like she wants a bedtime story."

That earned him another punch on the arm.

"I'm going to find Avon. Come on." Dayna strode off, leaving Vila to follow in her wake.

Avon was at his accustomed place on the flight deck when Dayna marched in. He looked up, annoyed at first by the interruption, but he too couldn't suppress a grin at the sight of the armed and distinctly dangerous Dayna Mellanby clad in her girlish night-clothes.

"Don't you start," she warned. "What's wrong with them? I had a pair like this on Sarran."

"Well then, it's lucky you weren't wearing them while I was there, or I'd definitely have left you behind." She scowled, and he saw that she wasn't in the mood for any more of his deprecating wit. "So why are you upset enough to be charging around the ship armed and half-dressed?"

"I heard someone--or something--trying to break into my cabin."

Avon turned smoothly to look at Vila with one raised eyebrow.

"No, not me." His succinct and no-nonsense answer also seemed to satisfy Avon.

"And it wasn't one of the others, either," Dayna added, "I'd have seen them."

"Perhaps you were simply imagining things in the dark, then."

That did make Dayna explode, and she struggled not to stamp her foot in frustration. "Avon, I am _not_ a five-year-old imagining monsters under the bed! I _saw_ it, running down the corridor."

Avon turned to face the ship's computer. "Zen, Dayna suspects that there is an unidentified creature aboard the ship. Report status."

It seemed to Dayna as though there was an infinitesimally longer than normal pause before Zen reported, +There are no unauthorised life-forms aboard the _Liberator_.+

Vila let out a sigh of relief beside her. "Satisfied?" he asked.

"No," she repeated stubbornly. "It was real." She shuddered slightly. "I mean, if it was an alien, would Zen necessarily pick it up?" That comment made Avon's eyes turn suddenly thoughtful.

"Or," Dayna pressed on, barely daring to say the words, "something _not_ alive..."

"You are certain of what you saw?" Avon's question was softly spoken.

"Yes," she replied, equally calmly, and he nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Very well. We'll fetch Cally first, then go looking." He paused on the way out to belt on a hand-gun, and tossed another to Vila, who juggled it a couple of times before finally grasping it. Avon flashed a humourless smile at his crew-mates. "Just in case."

Avon and Dayna moved quickly through the _Liberator_ 's passages, ever alert for the slightest hint of danger. Vila followed several paces behind them, looking considerably more nervous.

They were nearing Cally's cabin when their journey was halted by a high-pitched cry, the sound of a woman in distress.

"Cally!" Dayna cried, and all three of them covered the rest of the distance at a sprint. Avon was the first to slam his hand on the cabin door release, but it failed to open for him.

"Locked!" he hissed, and Vila pushed his way wordlessly past to begin his work. His fingers flew over the controls, and it was only a few seconds before the door slid open. Avon and Dayna had situated themselves one on each side, and on Avon's silent nod they burst through, weapons levelled.

Vila, following a prudent distance behind, heard Avon's sudden intake of breath and Dayna's muffled cry. He closed his eyes, fearing what was in there, then opened them again even wider as Cally screamed more loudly.

"What the..." Avon's voice had dropped to a hoarse whisper. An uncharacteristic compulsion took hold of Vila's feet and led him to brush past the stock-still man to see what was happening. His eyes were drawn to stare in the same direction as Avon's and Dayna's. He too gasped, struck dumb by shock.

Cally lay sprawled back on her bunk, half-pinned to it by a naked and clearly spent Tarrant. He was only just starting to stir again as Cally snatched at the sheet to pull over them both, and started to shout at Avon.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, bursting in like that!" she railed at him.

Avon's voice was dead calm as he spoke to her, reflecting the control he had regained over his features. "We heard you cry out."

Tarrant rolled over and spoke, his face flushed but combative. "And it took all three of you to check?" he panted.

Avon turned his cool gaze on Tarrant. "I was under the impression that I had sent you to test the changes we made to the retro-thrust systems. I was expecting it to be done by the end of the shift." He made a theatrical show of checking his watch. "You have ninety minutes."

Tarrant flushed even brighter, but bit down his answer. He looked around, suddenly realising only a sheet separated him from the others. Vila, recognising the source of his distress, picked up his trousers from the floor and threw them to him. Tarrant wriggled into them under the sheets, gave Cally a defiant kiss on the cheek, and slid out of bed. He gathered up his clothes, and Vila and Dayna parted to let him leave the room in silence, his head held high.

Cally's voice was dangerously controlled as she sat up and spoke to Avon, although her eyes flashed fire. "You have still given me no explanation."

"Dayna's seen a ghost," Vila chipped in cheerfully, but he shut up again as Avon gave him a full-wattage glare.

"Dayna saw something that tried to break into her cabin, but Zen says that there are no other life-forms on board," Avon confirmed.

Cally's eyes glittered even more and her lips set in a tight line. "So, Avon, you assumed that _I_ was the source of the problem?"

"Cally, that's not what I thought." His voice had softened, and he took a step towards her.

"Time to leave, I think," Vila whispered in Dayna's ear, and took her by the arm to lead her into the corridor.

"Vila..." she complained, but he held up a finger to silence her and bent to listen at the closed door.

"...desirable man, Avon, and _available_. I'm not made of stone, unlike some..."

Both of them managed to step away quickly before the door eased open again and Avon stepped out. Vila could read nothing from his face, but his voice was clipped. "She'll meet us on the flight deck in five minutes."

Cally acted as though nothing untoward had happened when she joined them soon after. "So, Dayna, you saw something? But Zen can find no life signs?" Dayna nodded.

"You have proved yourself better than Zen at sensing certain alien entities, and I don't trust Orac to interact with them," Avon said in what might almost have been a compliment. "Is there anything on board the ship?"

Cally took a seat on the sofa in the pit, and leaned back. "I'll try," she said, "but ideally I need to be more relaxed." She fired another slightly annoyed glance at Avon, which he ignored. She closed her eyes and rested her fingers on her temples, while the others watched her in silence.

"Maybe," she said slowly, "maybe there is something... I can feel what might be another consciousness, but I can't get a fix on it." She fell silent again, and her breathing slowed until it was barely perceptible.

"Yes," she whispered, "there is something here. I can sense it because it has..." Her eyes snapped open, and they were filled with worry. "It has bonded with one of us, or tried to. It's seeking someone!"

"Who?" Avon asked, a slight huskiness in his voice the only indication that the scenario might just be worrying him.

"I can't tell," Cally said, and four pairs of eyes swung around the pit, each looking the others over distrustfully for any signs of alien possession.

"I'll try again."

The others watched her intently as she slipped into a meditative state. Vila felt the tendrils of Cally's mind whisper across his consciousness, and it made him jump nervously. One look from Avon was enough to keep him silent.

When Cally's eyes opened again they were even more troubled. "It is a predator, I can sense its need to hunt, and it seeks one of us." Dayna's eyes had grown as wide as saucers.

"But there's something, I don't know..." Cally added. "It's dangerous, it hunts, but I sense no evil or malice. And it's so aloof, I cannot trace the link..." She looked across thoughtfully at Avon, who met her gaze with his unblinking dark eyes.

"You probed all of our minds for the link. Did you test Tarrant's, too?" Avon sounded as though the attempt to remain reasonable was costing him a lot of effort.

Cally flushed. "Of course." She regained her composure. "Dayna was right. I think we had better find this thing before it finds us."

She got to her feet and collected two weapons. Avon raised an eyebrow. "We can't leave Tarrant alone out there, not until we know what this is. I'm going to find him. Vila, will you come with me?"

"Hang on a minute," Vila said, sounding shaky, "hadn't we better all stick together? I mean, we don't know how dangerous it could be..."

"Vila's right, for once," Dayna said, "the thing was so quick and quiet, it could be on top of us before we noticed."

Cally nodded. "Let's go then. We'll cover a lot of ground on the way back to the guidance control room."

Their journey took them through many of the lesser-travelled passageways of the _Liberator_ , where the ambient lighting was dimmer and the ship seemed unnaturally quiet, except for the background hum of the drive systems propelling them through space at breathtaking speed.

Dayna was the first to catch sight of something. "There!" she hissed, pointing down the hallway at floor level. As she took aim, the others were aware of a softly blurred apparition moving away from them.

In the instant before Dayna fired, the lights went out and threw them all into the pitch darkness, lit only briefly by the energy bolt from Dayna's weapon.

"Aaah!" Vila cried, and clutched at Cally for support.

"Quiet!" she whispered in his ear. "Don't alert it!"

They all stood still, the only sound they heard being their own harried breathing. Four pairs of ears strained for any hint that the predator was closing in on them. Instinctively, they all moved closer, seeking the comforting warmth of human companions.

"Aieeeeeeeeee!" Dayna's scream was piercing, and everyone tensed in the dark to take action against their silent and invisible enemy.

The lights came flickering back up to reveal that Dayna had thrown herself into the arms of a disconcerted Avon, and was clinging tightly to handfuls of his close-fitting sweater. While he tried to disentangle himself, Cally searched but could catch no sight of their hidden adversary.

"It _touched_ me!" Dayna sobbed with her face buried against Avon's chest. "It slid against my leg, it was horrible..."

Cally came to his rescue, and pulled Dayna gently away. "It's all right, it didn't attack you. It's gone now."

"What the hell happened to the lights?" Avon snarled as he tugged his clothes back into place. He strode to a communicator a little further along the hallway, and stabbed at the button.

"Zen? Report cause of lighting failure in Corridor S3, Deck B."

The computer's voice sounded strangely muted through the tiny wall speaker. +Sensors report a minor circuit burn-out in the auxiliary relays. Auto-repair was activated and function has been restored.+

"There we go," Vila said, nervous but chirpy. "Just a coincidence, eh?"

"Hm," Avon replied, unconvinced. "A very curiously timed coincidence, which lasted just long enough for whatever _that_ was to escape. Something very strange is going on here."

"Cally?" A more composed Dayna spoke. "You said it was a predator, why didn't it attack us?"

"I can't tell," she admitted, "but perhaps there were too many of us. It might want to choose the ground it meets us on."

"Let's stay here, then," Vila said, "we know it doesn't like it." That earned him a sour look from both Avon and Cally.

"Or it might be looking for a softer target," Dayna mused. "I think we'd better find Tarrant."

The young pilot was surprised to see all his crew-mates watching him once again as he worked under a low console, and he got defensively to his feet. "What have I done this time?" he bristled.

Avon tossed him the spare hand-gun. "There's an intruder on board. Cally can feel it's a predator, we thought it prudent to leave no-one alone." Tarrant sensed the unspoken _'not even you'_ tagged on to the end of that sentence.

Once Tarrant was armed, Avon spoke to all of them again. "We'll never catch it if we keep making it run, it's too fast. We'd better split up. Dayna, you've seen it twice, take Tarrant. Cally, Vila, with me."

Vila knew from Avon's tone that it was useless to argue, and he tagged along behind the other two as they began their methodical search of the corridors around the place they had last seen the mystery invader. He let his gun hang limp in one hand as he tried to stay as quiet and unobtrusive as possible.

He saw Cally suddenly stop and tense in front of him, and she dropped down into a stealthy hunting pose. She spoke to both men telepathically. //I just saw it slip around that corner.//

Avon mirrored her alert pose, and nodded. "Dead end," he mouthed silently to her. "Trapped."

//Yes, it's trapped. Avon, you go to the left. Vila, cover us both.//

Avon moved silently into position to cut off any possible escape, while Vila gripped his gun as though he knew what he was doing. Cally looked at them both.

//Ready? On my count--one, two, three, GO!//

Avon and Cally moved in fluid unison to corner the enemy. It grew in size before their shocked eyes, hissing and arching in fury. They both fired at once.

Both weapons failed to fire. Avon swore through gritted teeth and fired again, with the same result. He took a step forward.

"No!" Vila screamed in horror. "Don't touch it!"

To Avon's enormous surprise, Vila shouldered his way between him and Cally and skidded to his knees on the floor in front of the creature, which backed up and hissed again.

"Don't hurt him!" Vila extended a hand towards the creature, which began to subside a little and stopped hissing.

"It's... it's a cat!" Cally said in surprise. "How did a cat get on board the _Liberator_?'

"That's a very good question, Vila, and one I'd like an answer to," Avon growled.

Vila ignored him, and started crooning to the little pale cat. "Here, Scratch, come to daddy. You naughty cat, sneaking out like that and getting lost." He fished inside his tunic, then extended a hand holding a piece of food towards the frightened animal.

Scratch relaxed enough to extend a curious nose towards the offering, decided he liked the smell of it, and started licking. Vila dropped it on to the floor for the cat to eat, then rubbed at the fawn and white-furred head as the cat enjoyed his treat. "Good boy," Vila murmured again, and the cat responded with a burst of loud purring.

Vila waited until Scratch had finished his snack, then lifted him into his arms. The cat nudged at his face while Vila tickled it under the chin. He turned slowly to face Cally and Avon.

"Well?" Avon asked, his voice low and reasonable and eminently dangerous. "I'm waiting."

"Let's walk as we talk, shall we?" Cally broke in. "We'd better find the others before they shoot each other by accident. Vila, how could you let us run around armed when you knew it was just a cat?"

"I wasn't sure," Vila said defensively, "not until I saw him when Dayna shot at him. I mean, I thought it probably was just Scratch, I was looking for him when Dayna found me, but I wasn't taking any chances, not with some of the things we've had stow away on board before."

"We're back to that word stowaway, Vila," Avon said. "That mangy bag of fleas did not materialise here by itself."

"I found him when I was breaking into that security complex on Rufior," Vila said, offended. "He was in the alley outside, crying like he'd been abandoned. He was still there when I came back, I couldn't just leave him. I put him in my box of tricks and left the lid ajar so he could breathe. I wasn't sure the teleport would pick him up, but it did. Poor thing, he's barely let out a meow since."

They found the others and returned to the flight deck. Vila put Scratch down and the cat walked around, investigating the options, before leaping lithely into the pilot's seat and curling up to go to sleep.

"Hey!" Tarrant protested. "Get that thing off my position!"

Dayna just laughed at him and went to tickle the cat's ears. Scratch pushed his head up into Dayna's hand, but didn't stir. "Ignore the grumpy man," she said.

"Vila, I don't understand," Cally said. "Why wouldn't our guns fire?"

"Oh, that was too easy," Via said breezily, "when you're the best pickpocket in the Federated Worlds and your targets expect you to be standing close behind them." Cally and Avon both looked down to find their hand-guns unplugged from the power-packs, but secured so that they wouldn't notice the cords were loose. Both switches were also turned to the rarely used safety setting.

Avon looked at Vila for a moment, then laughed. "And how did you fool Zen?"

"Didn't need to, did I? I just told him that we had a new, non-human crew member when I first brought Scratch on board."

"Of course," Avon said with a touch of annoyance, "Zen said no _unauthorised_ life-forms. I should have been suspicious of that qualification." He gave Vila an appraising look. For a man who usually pretended to be stupid, he sometimes showed a remarkable degree of forethought.

"It still doesn't explain why the lights went out just as Dayna was firing at it." Avon's tone was still suspicious.

" _Him_ , Avon, not it. Like I said, coincidence. Things just happen like that sometimes." Vila stifled a yawn. "I'm supposed to be on a rest period. I'm going to bed." He stepped over to the pilot's position.

"Come on, Scratch, seeing as you're the only warm thing on board that'll share with me..." He went to pick up the cat, but one paw shot out and batted his hand away. The claws were sheathed, but the others laughed.

"Even the cat's turned you down, Vila," Dayna teased. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Thanks a million, Scratch," Vila said morosely. "It looks like he wants to stay. You're on night watch, Avon, do you mind? They're not the most obedient of animals."

"If it must," Avon ground out. "It will be little different from the rest of you in that regard."

"He, Avon, _he_. All right, then, g'night..." Vila left the flight deck, followed by Dayna and then Tarrant and Cally. Avon tried to ignore the smile that passed between them.

Avon sat at his own flight position for several minutes, until he was certain that the others had gone for the night. He slipped out of his chair and moved up to the pilot's seat. He and the cat regarded each other for a time, unblinking green eyes held by an equally determined pair of brown eyes.

Once they'd taken the measure of each other, Avon stretched out his hand to rub the cat under the chin, the way he'd seen Vila do it. For several seconds, the cat accepted the caress but made no move or sound. Just as Avon was about to drop his hand, Scratch started to purr and rolled over in the chair.

Avon chuckled and obliged, rubbing the cat with long strokes of his hand along the soft fur. The purring increased in volume until it rang across the flight deck. He petted the cat until his hand started to tingle, then stopped with a sigh. The cat looked at him, blinked, then fell soundly asleep.

"I'm going to fetch a coffee, Scratch. I think there's some leftover protein chips in the galley. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Avon sauntered off the flight deck, and Scratch reopened his eyes to watch the human leave. He waited for a few seconds, then jumped down from the chair. He stalked resolutely across the flight deck to stand in front of the viewscreen, then coiled and leapt up on to the analysis dome beneath Zen's display.

As the cat rubbed and nuzzled against the perspex, Zen lit up and flashed in time with the cat's caresses.

 


End file.
